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The discovery of the fully developed Formative sites of Cotocallao (ca. 3750-2350 cal. B.P.) in the Quito Basin and La Chimba (ca. 2650-1700 cal. B.P.) in the northern highlands of Ecuador has raised questions about their cultural antecedents, which have not been resolved despite decades of archaeological work in the region. Paleoenvironmental coring investigations were conducted at Lake San Pablo in northern highland Ecuador to determine the date for the onset of prehistoric maize farming in the temperate highland valleys of this region. The investigations included analysis of lake sediments for pollen, phytoliths, diatoms, and tephra. Maize pollen was identified as early as 4900 cal. B.P., while maize phytoliths dated even earlier, to 6200 or 6600 cal. B.P. These results demonstrate a long history of maize farming in valleys around Lake San Pablo, but in the context of a punctuated record of major and minor volcanic eruptions. It is concluded that early horticultural sites predating Cotocallao and La Chimba must exist, but to find such sites, archaeologists will have to locate and study deeply buried A-horizon soils.

Cinnabar ore is the source of a bright red pigment (mercury [II] sulfide, HGS), a substance that was highly valued in the Central Andes during prehispanic times. It is traditionally believed to come from Huancavelica in south-central Peru, although some scholars have argued that a prehispanic cinnabar source existed at Azogues near Cuenca in southern Ecuador. It has also been suggested that the cinnabar recovered at archaeological sites in northern Peru such as Baton Grande may have come from this putative Ecuadorian source. In this article, the historical and archaeological evidence supporting this position is evaluated and found to be insufficient to sustain the Ecuadorian Cinnabar Hypothesis. Moreover, recent mercury isotope analysis of archaeological samples from northern Peru supports the earlier hypothesis that the source of the bright red pigment, sometimes referred to as vermilion, was cinnabar ore mined in Huancavelica. This source is located over 850 km to the south of archaeological sites such as Batdn Grande, Chongoyape, and Pacopampa.

In this paper, we examine wood charcoal assemblages that were recovered from ash layers in Terminal Classic (A.D. 800–950) burials at the Maya site of Rio Bee to understand the use of fuel wood in funerary rites. Compared to charcoal deposits from domestic and non-funerary contexts, the spectrum of wood taxa used in the burial deposits is unique, which suggests specific fire-related practices. Members of the Sapotaceae family and Cordiasp. dominated all contexts and were clearly primary fuels. In contrast, the use of pine (Pinus sp.), which does not grow locally today, was limited to ritual practices. In addition, it seems that a deliberate effort was made to maximize the taxonomic richness of the fuel wood used in burials. Funerary charcoal deposits appear to have been carefully and intentionally “composed” for burning during funerary rites. We propose that this practice materialized the relationship between fire, ash, and the cycles of life and death, which are often symbolized by plant life cycles in the worldview of ancient Maya societies. This study also emphasizes the contribution of anthracological (wood charcoal) analysis to the reconstruction of human behavior and the importance of systematic paleoethnobotanical sampling in funerary contexts.

To study the Classic Maya is to at once recognize the shared material representations and practices that give coherence to this cultural category as a unit of analysis, as well as to critically examine the diversity and idiosyncrasy of specific cultural traits within prehispanic Maya society. Maya hieroglyphic writing, in particular the tradition of inscribing texts and images on carved stone monuments, offers evidence for widespread and mutually intelligible cultural practices that were, at the same time, neither unchanging nor uniform in their semantic content. As conduits of linguistic and cultural information, Maya hieroglyphic monuments offer detailed records of Classic Maya dynastic history that include the names, dates, and specific rituals performed by élite individuals. In this article, we analyze the distribution and diversity of these inscriptions to examine ritual variation and the divergence of dynastic traditions in Classic Maya society. Diversity indices and methods adapted from population genetics and ecology are applied to quantify the degree of ritual differentiation and evaluate how these measures vary over time and are partitioned within and between elite populations. Results of this research refine our understanding about the variation of Clássic Maya ritual traditions and make substantive contributions to examining the population structure of cultural diversity within past complex societies.

The site El Indígeno contains the greatest known concentration of hunter-gatherer residential features in the southern Andes. Located at 3,300 m asl in a meadow in the Cordillera of west-central Argentina, the site is notable for its 133 habitation structures, that—when considered along with the other characteristics of the site—represent an anomalous but perhaps not entirely unexpected adaptation to the highest altitude environment in the region. Based on radiocarbon dating and artifact typologies, the site was occupied between ca. 800 and 1500 B.P. It consequently represents the latest step in the indigenous colonization of what is arguably the most marginal environment in the region. This chronology suggests that the site was occupied when nearby lowland regions were under their most intensive use and during a time when new resources were incorporated into the high-altitude hunter-gatherer diet. In this article I report on research conducted at El Indigeno and compare the results of these studies to the regional record, ultimately concluding that regional population increase affiliated with the spread of increasingly complex socioeconomic systems most parsimoniously explains the intensive occupation of this large, high-altitude hunter-gatherer site.

In this article, we describe the material record associated with the ritual performances of prehispanic farming communities in Las Pailas (Salta Province, Argentina), and how these practices are maintained and resignified by current inhabitants of the area. The archaeological site of Las Pailas located in the northern Calchaqui Valley was an enclave composed of a large farming area and a complex hydraulic network that was continuously occupied from the beginning of the Christian era to the Spanish invasion. Las Pailas features several huancas, elongated stones characterized as menhirs or monoliths, which are located in the center of farming enclosures individually or in pairs. Based on their different morphologies and sizes, they were classified into five types. The analysis of the huancas and their locations, together with information obtained from oral histories, suggests that these features were associated with agricultural fertility rituals. Even today, these stones are important informing contexts, although their meaning has been resignified in a new social and cultural context